Auxiliary car button controls for automatic passenger elevators



March 13, 1956 J. H. BORDEN 2,738,489

AUXILIARY CAR BUTTON CONTROLS FOR AUTOMATIC PASSENGER ELEVATORS FiledJune 29, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. JOSEPH H BURDEN BY :7 I

March 13, 1956 J. H. BORDEN 2,738,489

AUXILIARY CAR BUTTON CONTROLS FOR AUTOMATIC PASSENGER ELEVATORS FiledJune 29, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 a /9 24 (n) -o c o 26 28 A3 i /4 L 29-1IN V EN TOR.

1/03? PH H BORDE/V United States Patent AUXILIARY CAR BUTTON CONTROLSFOR AUTOMATIC PASSENGER ELEVATORS Joseph H. Borden, Toledo, Ohio,assignor to Haughton Elevator Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation ofApplication June 29, 1953, Serial No. 364,866

3 Claims. (Cl. 340-19) This invention relates to car button controls forpassenger elevators intended to be operated by passengers without theassistance of an attendant.

Elevator control systems have been designed and built in which theentire operation of the elevator is controlled by push buttons, some atthe landings and some in the cars. These elevators are intended to beoperated by the passengers themselves without the assistance of anoperator. As long as the elevator car is comparatively small so as to beused by a few persons at a time a single car button panel in each car issufiicient. However, as the elevator cars are increased in size toaccommodate larger passenger loads it becomes inconvenient to requireeach of the passengers to go to one control panel in order to registerhis call. It often happens as the passengers crowd into the car thatsome of them cannot conveniently get to the control panel. Thiscondition has been corrected by supplying a second panel, a duplicate ofthe first, in some other place in the car and connecting it in parallelwith the first control panel.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a simplifiedcircuit and control mechanism for an auxiliary car button panel, thesecond panel or auxiliary panel to be located on the opposite side ofthe entrance door to the elevator car from the regular or main controlpanel.

Another object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary control panelcircuit which provides the same indication and control on each controlpanel regardless of which one has been operated to register adestination call.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an auxiliarycontrol panel incorporating a minimum amount of auxiliary equipment.

More specific objects and advantages are apparent from the followingdescription of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

' 'According to the invention an auxiliary control panel or car buttonpanel is arranged in an elevator car on the opposite side of the carfrom a main control panel. The auxiliary control panel includes a pushbutton'and signal lamp for each of the floors to be served by theelevator. The main control panel is equipped with a push button for eachof the floors to be served, the push button serving to control contactsfor the signal circuits and being equipped with a magnetic holding coilwhich is continuously energized and which has a strength only sufiicientto hold the button once it has beenmanually pressed. The auxiliary panelcontrol buttons are arranged, when pressed, to momentarily increase thestrength of the magnetic holding coil of the corresponding button of themain control panel so as to operate that push button. Preferably thecircuit comprises a resistance in series with each of the holding coilson the main panel the resistance serving to limit the current flowthrough the holding coil and contacts in the auxiliary control boardarranged to short out the respective resistors whenever thecorresponding auxiliary panel button is pushed, thereby caus- 2,738,489Patented Mar. 13, 1956 ing the holding coil to operate the correspondingpush button on the main control panel.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings.

.In the drawings:

Figure I is a perspective view of the interior of an elevatorcarequipped with a main and an auxiliary car button panel according to theinvention.

FigureII is asectional view of one of the auxiliary car buttons that areused in the auxiliary car button panel.

.Figure III is a schematic wiring diagram showing the circuitarrangement of the main and auxiliary car buttons'locatedin the twopanels so as to operate the signal circuits for controlling theoperation of the elevator.

These specific figures and the accompanying description are intended tomerely illustrate the invention but not to impose limitations on itsscope.

An intending passenger when entering an elevator car 11 equippedaccording to the invention has his choice of registering his destinationcall on either a main car but- .ton panel 2 or upon an auxiliary carbutton panel 3 whichever is the more convenient. These car button panels2 and 3 are shown arranged one on each side of the entrance doors to theelevator. The main car button panel 2 is equipped with a series ofbuttons 4 one for each floor to be served by the elevator car. Theauxiliary car button panel 3 has a button 5 for each of the floors beingserved. in addition to the car buttons 4 and 5 each of the panelsincludes one or more additional control buttons such as a stop button 6in the main panel 2 and a similar stop button 7 in the auxiliary panel3.

The elevator car 1 may also be equipped with a signal light panel 9arranged above the doorway where it is visible to any of the passengerswithin the car. The signal light panel 9 ordinarily includes positionsignal lights indicating the floor that is being approached. It mayinclude additional signal lamps one for each of the car buttons toindicate which floors have been signaled for stops. As shown in thefigure one numeral is shown for each of the floors to be served by theelevatior car. These may be illuminated by different color lights onecolor showing the registered car calls and another color indicating theposition of the car. Signal lights may also be included in one or bothof the control panels.

While the main and auxiliary car button panels are shown in Figure I inrelation to an elevator having the doors adjacent one side and openingfrom one side, sim ilar panel arrangements may be employed with centerparting doors, i. e. cars in which the doors open at the center, onehalf of the door going to one side and the other half to the other side.In the latter case the car button panels may be located in the surfacesalongside the doors.

Referringto Figure ll, each of the buttons in the auxiliary car buttonpanel comprises a base portion 10 that is arranged to be attached to'thepanel with a button portion ltd-protruding through an opening in thepanel. 'The base 10-is preferably made of an opaque plastic while thebutton 11 is made of a translucent plastic. The assembly also includesacontact or terminal panel 12 having contact terminals 13 and 14 whichcooperate with a movable contact lever 15 that is actuated by the button11. The contact lever 15 is ordinarily held in non-contacting positionby a spring 16 that engages the lever 15 near its fulcrum 17. When thebutton 11 is pushed, it

through an extension lit-pushes the lever 15 down so that 3 the signallamp 19 is illuminated to indicate the registration of a call.

The car buttons 4 in the main car button panel 2 are of conventionaldesign in that each of the buttons is arranged to operate a set ofcontacts and is equipped with a magnetic coil that is energizedcontinuously and with sufiicient strength to hold the button depressedonce it is actuated. Since these buttons are well known no descriptionof such a button is considered necessary to understand the presentinvention.

Figure III shows the circuits for interconnecting the main and auxiliarycar button panels in schematic form. As shown, the signal current supplypower is fed through a first line Ll and returned through a line L2. Areset contact RS in the line L1 is momentarily opened whenever thedirection of travel is reversed to release any operated push buttons.The main car buttons 4 and their associated holding coils are shownalong the left-hand side of the diagram while the auxiliary car buttonsare shown along the right-hand side of the diagram. Each of the main carbuttons includes a button portion 23 that extends out through the paneland is adapted to be operated by the passenger. Each button 23 controlsa first contact 24 and a second contact 25 that are arranged to closeindependent circuits. The stem of the button 23 also is connected to anarmature 26 disposed within an electromagnetic coil 27. The coil 27 iscontinuously energized from the line L1 through a lead 28, a continuinglead 29, and a resistor 30 connected to the return line L2. The resistor30 is of such resistance that the current flow through the coil 27 isnot sufficient to actuate the button 23 but is sufficient to hold thebutton depressed once it has been manually operated.

The auxiliary push button switch comprising the contacts 13, 14 and leafoperated by the contact button 11 is connected between the lead 29 andthe return line L2 so as to short out or bypass the resistor 30 wheneverthe button 11 is pushed. Bypassing the resistor 30 allows sufiicientadditional current to flow through the coil 27 to attract the armature26 and close the contacts 24 and 25. As far as this button is concernedthis is equivalent to manually depressing the push button 23. The buttonremains depressed until the holding coils 27 are all deenergized bymomentarily opening the reset contacts RS as the car reverses.

The contacts 24 of the main car button 23 are employed to control thecurrent flow to the signal lamp 19 and any other signal lamps which maybe connected to indicate the floor calls being registered in the car.The second contact 25 is arranged to energize the signal controlcircuits which control the stopping of the elevator at the signaledfloors.

There is a main car button and an auxiliary car button for each of thefloors to be served. The circuits for four such buttons are illustratedin Figure III it being understood that more buttons are added if thereare more floors to be served.

In this arrangement, as far as the indication or result is concerned, itmakes no diflerence which of the buttons 11 or 23 is pushed. Thus if theintending passenger on entering the car pushes one of the buttons in themain control panel 2 that button when pushed remains in its depressedposition thus indicating at that panel that the car call has beenregistered. Likewise that button by closing its contacts 24 illuminatesthe signal light in the auxiliary control panel or such other indicatingpanel as may be provided. If on the other hand the intending passengerhad registered his call by pushing a button in the auxiliary controlpanel 3 such action by shorting out the resistor 30 would have actuatedthe corresponding button in the main control panel 2 thus indicating atthe main panel that a call had been registered for that floor and bylighting the signal lamp indicating the same condition at the auxiliarycontrol panel. Thus regardless of which control panel is employed thesignal circuit and the stopping circuit of the elevator is completed inthe same manner and the same indication is displayed in the car.

Since the auxiliary panel is much simpler and less expensive thisarrangement is preferred to the duplication of the main control panelwith the two connected in parallel.

Various modifications of the actual car buttons and of the circuit maybe made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having described the invention, 1 claim:

1. in an automatic passenger elevator, in combination, a first carbutton panel mounted adjacent one side of the door of an elevator car, asecond car button panel mounted adjacent the other side of the door, aplurality of push buttons in the first panei one for each floor servedby the elevator, an armature attached to each push button, an electricalcircuit for each button including a resistor and an electromagnetic coilcooperating with the armature, said resistor limiting the current flowin the coil to an amount sutficient to hold the button depressed but notto actuate it from an undepressed position, and a plurality of pushbutton switches in the second panel one for each floor, each switchhaving contacts connected to by-pass the resistor of the electricalcircuit of the corresponding push button of the first panel, wherebysufficient current flows through said circuit coil to actuate said firstpush button when the corresponding switch of the second panel isactuated.

2. In an automatic passenger elevator, in combination, a first and asecond car button panel mounted within an elevator car one adjacent eachside of the door of the car, a plurality of electromagnetically retainedpush button switches in the first panel one for each floor served by theelevator, a plurality of push button switches in the second panel onefor each of the electromagnetically retained switches of the firstpanel, an energizing circuit individual to each of the retaining meansof the electromagnetically retained switches, and a current limitingresistor in each circuit, each resistor being bypassed by contactsclosed by operation of the corresponding push button of the second panelwhereby a momentary depression and release of either buttonfor a floorleaves the first button in depressed condition.

3. In an automatic passenger elevator, in combination, a first and asecond car button panel mounted at separated locations within anelevator car, a plurality of push button switches one for each floormounted in each panel, an electromagnetic coil and armature associatedwith each switch in the first panel only, an individual circuit for eachswitch including a current limiting resistor in series with the coil formaintaining the switch depressed, a set of contacts on each switch ofthe second set, said contacts being connected to shunt the resistor ofthe corresponding switch in the first panel, whereby manual operation ofeither switch leaves only the switch of the first panel in depressedposition.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS GreatBritain Oct. 21, 1947

